Sfard Anna

Biography

I conduct research and teach in the domain of learning sciences, with particular focus on the relation between thinking and communication. By researching this issue, I hope to contribute to our understanding of human development at large, and of the growth of mathematical thinking in particular.   

Research Interest

I am working within conceptual framework growing from the assumption that human thinking is a form of communication. Inspired mainly by the work of Wittgenstein and Vygotsky, this basic non-dualist tenet implies that discursivity – the fact that all our activities are either purely communicational or imbued with and shaped by discourse – is the hallmark of our humanness. Our discursive inclusions and exclusions are what situates us socially and culturally and positions each one of us with regard to everybody else. Our discourses are also repositories of complexity that underlie our ability to build on achievements of previous generations rather than beginning every time anew.